Custom Koozie

Yep I live in Southeast Texas and tonight at a house warming party I found this fully custom made koozie. I get a kick out of this life. Of course it's only cool if you have a good nick name like this to write on it.

Chicken Piccata w/ pasta and mushrooms

Ok so I'm a new and learning cook, let me say that first off. So all things are new to me and I made this and still have no idea what piccata is. I picked this recipe because im on a diet (of course) and wanted fettucine but...well... ummm its like 800 calories, so i tried this. Its super good and totally fixed that craving. HOWEVER i am changing the directions because this took way too long to be practical in my everyday life.
So to start off get out three skillets and a pot and stick them on the oven. You may also want to turn your air conditioner up at this point because you are going to have all these burners going at once.
Pot for boiling pasta
pan or skillet for mushrooms
pan or skillet for chicken
pan or skillet for sauce mixture
START
in the pot put in water and past and start to boil.
in one pan put two teaspoons of light flavored olive oil - (for chicken) and turn heat to low
in another put one teaspoon of olive oil - (for mushrooms) and turn heat on low
in the last pan put sauce mixture. no heat yet
INGREDIENTS
6 ounces whole-wheat angel hair pasta - or whatever, I used bow tie because its what I had.
1/3 cup all-purpose flour, divided - or just pour a little in a bowl, (its just for dunking the chicken cutlets and then 5 teaspoons goes into the mixture part for the sauce.)
2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided - i just sprinkled salt when needed
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper - i just sprinkled pepper when needed
4 chicken cutlets, (3/4-1 pound total), trimmed - found a pack of four already sliced @ HEB -$3.00
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided - 2t in one pan 1t in another
1 10-ounce package mushrooms, sliced
3 large cloves garlic, minced - or 1 teaspoon already minced
1/2 cup white wine - all I had was white Zinfandel and mine turned out great anyway.
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons capers, rinsed -TIP: found them at the grocery store on the isle w/ the olives
(most people probably already know this)
2 teaspoons butter - I only used 1 teaspoon to cut calories.

1. Start your pasta boiling.
2. In the pan with two teaspoons olive oil we are cooking chicken so get your cutlets and flip them around in some flour and put them in the pan on low. Make sure before you add them that the oil has been distributed around the pan to coat it. salt and pepper each side as it cooks. About 3 to 5 min on each side.
WHILE YOUR CHICKEN COOKS...
3. In the pan with one teaspoon of olive oil throw the mushrooms in on low, I just dumped the whole carton in.
4. While your chicken is heating up and your mushrooms are warming move to the empty skillet. Add the 1/2 c of wine and 1 teaspoon of minced garlic and start to simmer. Simmer until it reduces to about half.
5. STIR MUSHROOMS AND FLIP CHICKEN. The mushrooms will probably get done first so once they are nice and soft and brown pull them off and set aside.
6. Add to the wine and garlic 2 cups of chicken broth and five tablespoons of flour and 2 Tablespoons of lemon juice. Mix it together really good to dissolve the flour and start to simmer and stir.
7. Your CHICKEN SHOULD BE DONE, set it to the side.
8. Stir the sauce mixture till it begins to thicken, about 5 min. and then drop in 1teaspoon of butter, parsley and two tablespoons of rinsed capers. I didn't measure my parsley I just snipped a little into the mixture till it looked pretty. Still till mixed and warm.
9. Drain your past (this was a typo I left because this is a good idea also but its supposed to be pasta). You may have already done this but if not do it now. After drained pour a little of the sauce over the top and toss.
10. Put it all together on a plate and eat it.
By cooking everything at once and mixing everything in the pots as I went along I shaved 28min off my first cooking time. Making the total time to cook and prepare now only 30 min. and it turned out just as good if not better!
about 340 calories per serving, makes four servings
here is the link to the original recipe.
Chicken Piccata with pasta and mushrooms

Give the Squash a chance (A fast, delicious recipe)

If your climate is anywhere close to mine then your local farmers market, garden or grocery store is probably overflowing with fresh tomatoes and squash.  So in the spirit of fresh food and easy fast recipes here is an absolutely awesome one from my Maw-Maw Bobbie's files. If your not a squash fan or have never cooked with squash give this dish a chance.  My boyfriend swore he hated squash and after I coxed him into trying a bite he ended up heating two plates. So if your new to squash or even swear you hate it just give squash a chance.

INGREDIENTS:

~ Ground Meat - 1 to 2 lbs. (I used 1lb. in the example recipe below)

~ Onion - for l lb use 1 small onion for 2 lbs use a large onion or two small ones

~ Squash - the regular yellow is fine,  the fresher the better for taste.

~ 1 can Rotel

~ 1 can tomato sauce

A variation is to use 1/2 can Rotel and 1/2 cup of fresh diced tomatoes.  Do this if you are worried about the whole can of Rotel being too spicy or just need to use up some of those garden tomatoes.

DIRECTIONS:

cut up onion into medium to small pieces.

Add meat and onions to skillet and brown on medium heat till the onions are soft and clear and the meat is brown. I do add a little Tex-Joy Steak seasoning at this point but not very much, a small sprinkle.  If your not lucky enough to have Tex-Joy in your area salt and peper will be just fine. http://www.texjoy.com/

Drain any excess fat or liquid from the skillet.  My meat is local grass fed Longhorn Beef http://www.gentzlonghorn.com/ and is very lean but I still pour the whole wad of meat and onions in a strainer and shake it really good. This is a personal preference so once it gets to the left over stage in the fridge it doesn't have little white clumps in it. The main point is get most of the grease off because we are using the same pan to cook the rest of the squash concoction.

OK, now the magic happens.  Add the drained meat and onions back to the skillet and proceed to cut up those beautiful fresh yellow squash.  They are the star of the show here and we really want them to shine so cut them fairly thick or they will wither away to nothing and turn to mush in the meat.  Not too thick either or they may be tough to cook evenly.  Maybe your can see from the picture about the size but the picture quality isn't that great and some of them are actually a little too thin.

Mix the squash, Rotel, and tomato sauce (I used paste but only because I didn't have sauce, and I improvise a lot.) You can also throw a few fresh diced tomato in it and leave out some of the rotel if you don't want it to be too spicy.

Turn on medium heat.  Wait a few min to see if you will need to add water.  This will totally depend on how juicy your squash and tomatoes are, sometimes a lot of water comes out of them and sometimes little to none.  Eyeball it.  The picture below is before I added water.

Cover and simmer untill squash is soft and opaque.  At this stage you are required to taste test  - yippee  :)

DONE!  Now just try to keep your boyfriend that hates squash from eating it all.

I serve this over rice the way my Maw-Maw always did but we are Cajun meets Cowboy where I live and the Cajun side of the family is know for eating rice with everything.  My point is you could serve it with other things like toasted buttered bread or probably even noodles but I have never tried. Let me know if you do and if its good.  Enjoy!

http://instagr.am/p/L4qNX6voDW/

Kitchen Measurement Table

As far as measurements in the kitchen go im useless in translating these things over so i printed a copy of this out and laminated it and taped it to the inside of my kitchen cabinet door.  An idea i got off Pintrest, but I got the cute little conversion table from my moms old cook book that Nana gave me.  Titled "My First Cookbook". Maybe someone else would like to use it also.  Its also something I will add to my Nana Bread Book for math challenged people like myself   :)

Corn Wisdom

Here is something i didn't know about corn that might help some other poor soul.  I have a small garden, and last year i planted two corn plants and my corn didn't produce well and the kernels never developed.  Now last year we had a bad drought so I attributed it to that but then a friend told me that I didn't plant enough stalks of corn and that you have to have quite a few for them to produce well.  Im not sure about the science behind it but i planted a big patch at the end of the garden this year and they are doing much better.  We got a lot more rain already so that might be a factor but i also have this little baby below as proof that something went right this year. Its super sweet too!

This years first ear of corn. It's so sweet. Last year I didn't get any worth keeping. Guess what's for dinner. Corn!

Shareable: Loosecubes & The World Wide Coworking Web

i have no idea if anyone would want it but im thinking of making my back barn a shareable site for workers who might be around the area.  The concept of the website is a space where people can come and get some work done for a day or a few hours.  My little cottage barn might be perfect for someone.  Who knows?  Its just and idea at this point but what a nice way to meet people and help out and share what I have with others.

Shareable: Loosecubes & The World Wide Coworking Web

Shareable: FarmHack: Collaboratively Retooling Agriculture

Shareable: FarmHack: Collaboratively Retooling Agriculture

30 Something Pondering

I wonder if im the only one that is getting to that age where they begin to look at the world differently.  I have been around long enough to be able to know who i am and what i think and believe in.  I see my parents getting older and my grandparents getting even older and I look at things in a lot bigger picture than i used to. Im old enough to turn around and see where i have come from and the stamp it left on me. I see my parents generation that was filled with long hours and overtime, fast food and bigger is better mentality and im not buying it.  I just watched my grandfather finish building a entire house by himself for my cousin and my dad go through a heart attack.  I dont know if im the only one but what i think is this.  I want less overtime and more moments filled with family and friends, I dont want my job to be my life, I want smaller portions, better farm raised food from local markets and friends and family's gardens. I dont buy into bigger is better.  I dont want to look good in a bathing suite at 35, I want to be healthy at 85 with a strong body and mind and years of quality living behind me and ahead of me. i dont want to be on medicine. I want to be able to belive in God and not be labeled a fanatic, I want to be mindful of our environment and not be labeled a hippie, I want   eliminate my debt and pay with cash.
I dont want my parents life.  Dont get me wrong i dont want my grandparents either but i do want more of their values.  i hope someday before i die I see communities and neighborhoods have the strength to support each other and not need the government.  I hope we can find solutions to problems within a neighborhood, a city or a state.  I hope we are smaller and closer and know and trust each other.  I hope all this technology doesn't numb us but connects us to solutions and answers to problems locally.  I hope i see communities that sustain them selves with their own food and ecology and less waste. I dont want the governmental to decide whats best for me,  I would like to see me and my neighbors be able to come together in our cities and decide whats best for us.  Im not sure about this new generation in the same way they are not sure about themselves yet but I see in them the potential to use the knowledge and all this information to find real answers to cut through the crap. This is just my rant for today to remind myself to:
Pray harder, Eat better, work out harder, spend time with my family and friends, buy local and organic, get my concealed hand gun licences, volunteer, talk to a stranger, random act of kindness, recycle, create art, talk to my neighbors, get out of my comfort zone, learn something new, read and old book, make a friend at least 20 years older than me and 20 years younger than me, Save more, Love more, give more.

a great website!   http://www.shareable.net/

Plots to get to the sunshine

After vacation I was thinking I would be recharged and ready to go back to work. Its not so. I only long for more vacation.  The florescent light makes my heart hurt and I pretended to be on the phone outside for 10 min today so I could just sit in the sunshine. It made me oh so happy for a few moments then I kicked the dirt, ended my pretend call abruptly and returned to work with a little sunshine on my nose.

Best swimming hole in Texas: #1 (Krause Springs)

Some of the best things to do in Texas involve water because if you have been here you know it's hot. Me and my physicist love to camp so I thought I would put a few of some of our best, most favorite, and beautiful places to camp and swim in Texas. It will be a work in progress but since we are here today camping I wanted to start with Krause Springs in SpiceWood Texas. It's a private campground off a county road and it's very laid back, unpopulated, and beautiful. It's not hard to find and only about 45 min from Austin but it's a secret even to most of the locals and it's quite the hidden gem. It has a rock pool that bottles the springs at the top of the cliffs just steps from huge wind chimes that hang in ancient cypress trees and a butterfly garden equipped with water fountains and hammocks. The pool is man made and the cold spring run straight through the middle. Equipped with a rock carved diving board and ultra cool springs this is a must stop spot and on ultra hot days stay a little longer because since the pool is close to the source of where the springs come out its super cool actually a nice 62 degrees where the springs pour in. However you MUST MUST MUST proceed down the rock steps into the real attraction. One of the coolest spots in Texas. A breathtaking watering hole equipped with water falls, a rope swing, perfect rocks for sunning and even a cave. We floated around with an icy beverage on tubes and then would get out and sun ourselves on the big flat hot rocks. If you get too warm you could paddle over to the waterfall that is spring fed and lay on the rocks under it to get a super cool sprinkle. Feel free to bring anything you like to this cool spot because there aren't many rules except no pets and no glass containers. There is no one peering over your shoulder and it's a very relaxed environment. Awesome enough all sorts of people seem to mingle wonderful together. Young hipsters, family's, tatted up 30 something's, grandparents, a few preppy looking school age kids, 40 something's all the way to infants. This place pulls a diverse crowd. It seems all you need to enter is a laid back attitude and a need to chill out. You can either stay all day or camp for a night or two. We got here around three on a Tuesday and paid to stay the night with plans to pay for a day pass Wednesday and float and leave that afternoon but when we went up they said we were good for the whole next day without paying any more, so pretty awesome! There are several bath houses and restrooms all over the place ranging from primitive to those that make you feel like your at a resort but they are ALL so nice and clean. There are primitive sites, sites with electric and RV pull ups. There are great day facilities with huge stone fire and BBQ pits, large rock picnic tables and cedar and rock pavilions around every winding corner. And i do mean every corner. They have done an excellent job at making sure there are benches and restrooms and pavilions around every little spring fed corner. Even in the dead of summer there always seems to be a breeze humming through the giant towering trees so there are tons of places to just sit and relax and enjoy it. Winding paths blooming flowers trickling springs, melodic wind chimes and if this all sounds too good to be true it's in fact one if the few cases where it's not. Go find out for yourself. From Austin: Take 71 to Spicewood TX turn at spur 191 go right to CR 404 turn right and then turn left at the metal gate named Krause Springs. Enjoy!
Of course our pictures from the trip will follow here is info:
http://krausesprings.net/

404 Krause Springs Rd

Spicewood TX 78669
United States
+1 (830) 693-4181

Peanut butter melting on the highway

Nick laid down on the floor after getting back from vacation and said he feels like PeanutButter melting on the highway. Cracked me up. Yep I feel like that too!